"Therefore, omit no watchfulness, diligence, care, and effort, in order to 'guard the deposit' of Christ's teaching whose destruction has been planned, as you know, by a great conspiracy." – Pope Pius VII, Diu Satis, May 15, 1800

One of the striking things about the French Revolution that is often left undiscussed in our time is the immediacy of the attack on the institutions of the Catholic Church in France. From the very start in the summer of 1789 those who had seized control of the institutions of the French state used that power to assault the Catholic Church and deprive her of the means to survive in that country. This gives the lie to any notion that this coup d’état ever had anything to do with the welfare of the French people. This was all about ideology and using the institutions of the French state to attack the Church and this attack began immediately. Here is a timeline:

August 4, 1789 (only three weeks after the storming of the Bastille): tithes are abolished

September 27, 1789: sacred vessels are seized

October 18, 1789: monastic vows are abolished

November 2, 1789: The French nation is declared proprietor of all Church property

April 13, 1790: Total nationalization of all Church property

The usual explanation for this is that the treasury of the French monarchy was in dire straits after it had been seduced into financing the Masonic inspired revolt in North America against the British crown a decade before. While there is some truth in this that explanation is nowhere near complete.

All of these measures were implemented tyrannically and with no negotiation. The Church was not asked to help the supposedly crippled French economy. She was not asked to contribute to improving the welfare of the French people. Her property was just seized out of hand. Her ancient religious orders were disbanded and their vows that were between the monk or none and the Church and the community and God alone were suddenly abrogated by this National Assembly that got its authority from where?

And how did any of this help the French people? It did not. It simply was an attempt to institutionally disembowel the Church in France. But the way to this madness had been prepared by Voltaire and his minions and others for decades prior to this coup d’état as we have shown in our previous posts.

All of this madness would be institutionalized in the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 1790. The Pope was functionally removed as head of the Church of France. Bishops were to be elected by all inhabitants of the Bishop’s départment whether Christian or not. This new French church filled with apostate priests would simply be an arm of the conspiracy that had seized the French state. Or that seems to have been the plan. It should be said that many many many priests did not apostasize and were cruelly persecuted for it resulting in many many martyrdoms. And just one more time absolutely none of this had anything to do with more liberty, equality, or fraternity for the French people. And the fact that it started immediately gives a strong indication that it was all pre-planned by somebody.

Please go to Confession and pray three Hail Mary’s in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.